Vengeance
}} '''Vengeance' (報復, Hōfuku) is a mysterious Spirit who is the right hand man of the notorious crime lord, Shigenaga Arma, acting as his personal assassin. Appearance Vengeance's skin is a sickly pale shade, dotted with large maroon blisters and blotches, causing him to resemble a zombie more than anything else. One would also be blameless for expecting Vengeance to have low physical strength, as he appears to have not eaten in years; his ribcages are almost always visibly pressing against his skin, along with other noticeable bones. His eyes are dim and grayed out, possibly indicating that this legendary marksman is in fact blind, a notion that Vengeance often laughs at, but never fully confirms nor denies, as those who question him about it are usually the ones whom he is preparing to kill. Vengeance's choice of attire is an interesting one, compared to many others who reside in the same plane of existence as himself. He dons a long, blackish brown cloak over his shoulders that extends down to his ankles, it's tattered and feathered ends being a noticeable trademark of his. He has two bandoliers strapped across his otherwise bare torso, each containing several cartridges and weaponized tools all across their front and back sides. His pants are long and of the same shade as his cloak, appearing to be rather slacky and also containing the two holsters which house his two favorite pistols. Finally, he wears a distinctly rustled and beat-up cowboy hat which has a white headband strapped around it's forehead saying "Number 1". Personality Vengeance appears to be a murderous and cold-hearted killer, and both cases are true, of course, but he is more sophisticated in these regards than many of his other spiritual brethren. Vengeance lives for battle and thrills in the opportunity to raise his guns against an enemy who is capable of challenging him, but he only ever does so when there is purpose involved, his contracts often being the most common of his reasons. When he engages an enemy in combat, he sets his sights on finishing the fight, whether it results in his opponent's death or his own. Vengeance believes that a fight is a clash of souls, a way to determine who is strongest not physically, but spiritually; he considers the victor to be the one who struggles and fights to the very end, even if they die. One who flees from a fight is one who should be killed in the most violent and painful way possible, as he considers it disrespectful to both them and himself, a sign that their soul and passion were never strong enough to pursue, and that they don't consider his own soul worth engaging. In battle, Vengeance is ruthless and tactical, exploiting any and all possible chances to defeat his opponent. Some say that he plays dirty, but he scoffs at this, saying that a battle is something that is meant to be won, not stylized or glorified; he is contracted to kill the opponent, not play by their rules. However, should he become spirited in a fight, he can tend to drag the fight and use more sadistic tactics, such as shooting the opponent's limbs or disarming them even when they are losing the capability to fight back. He is rarely concerned with injuries that he might sustain, even if he makes an effort to avoid them as much as he can. This is because of his unique talent, Karma, which practically makes him immortal. It's because of Karma that he also never runs from a fight, even if he's on the losing end, for he knows that he will always manage to recover and hunt them down once more another day. One might say that Vengeance is utterly fearless, and this is mostly true. He does have one major fear, however, and that is him being forgotten entirely, for if no one can remember him, he cannot regain his form after death and will thus cease to exist entirely. Despite his appearance and fighting style, Vengeance is an honorable person, to an extent of course. He prefers to initially greet his enemy head on, introducing himself and proclaiming his reasons for tracking them down. In his mind, to strike an enemy before properly introducing oneself demonstrates weakness, and a lack of resolve. He does not typically raise his weapons against civilians, but has no issue with them getting caught in his line of fire whilst in the middle of a fight. However, he often makes more of an effort to avoid harming children if at all necessary, but he will make exceptions to this, such as when he wiped out the entirety of the Omaeda Clan, the children included, as he had been ordered to kill all of them and not to leave any survivors. While he is a ruthless bounty hunter, and is almost always on the hunt for both targets and more contracts, Vengeance does have some human qualities, and can even be rather hospitable to others. This is mainly true in how he handles certain bounties when the contractor asks him to bring their desired target back to them alive, in that Vengeance will often give the target one of his cigars or even buy them a drink before bringing them back, reasoning that it'll likely be the last one they ever get and that they should "enjoy themselves while they've still got time". He is also respectful to people who are of high authority, such as Gotei 13 Captains, but won't go out of his way to demonstrate this, and may still consider them beneath himself. In a similar manner, he also respects powerful warriors who show him exceptional skill in battle. History Vengeance's history is practically non-existent. He has no set backstory, no familial ties, no known friends or associates outside of his Coven allies, or any previous affiliations. Popular folklore states that Vengeance was born when the cycle of life and death began with Izanagi slaying Kagu-tsuchi, the God of Fire, after the latter's birth unintentionally killed his mother, Izanami. From there, it is believed that Vengeance carried out Izanami's vengeful wish to destroy Izanagi's kingdom. As with many things, this is all simple speculation. A Larger World After being contracted by many people to find and kill Seireitou Kawahiru for the latter's past sins against them, Vengeance tracks down the legendary warrior and challenges him to single combat. Despite being easily dispatched, Vengeance's "Karma" ability had allowed him to return to life shortly afterwords and challenged Seireitou yet again. Equipment * Remembrance and Judgment: The names given to Vengeance's two signature hand guns, Remembrance and Judgment are two exceptionally large Colt Revolvers that Vengeance keeps on his person at all times. The two weapons are as black as the night sky, with handles that were carved out of the finest and firmest wood that the Living World could have produced. Both guns are incredibly durable, as they are often used just as much for melee combat as they are for long range combat, for Vengeance uses them to block oncoming sword strikes from his opponents. As bullets are extremely rare in the Spirit World, that is to say if they even exist at all, Vengeance mostly uses compressed Spiritual Energy to form his ammunition. Because of this, he never has to take time to reload either weapon, as all of their chambers are filled with his own energy. :* Witch Bullets: Witch bullets are special munitions that The Coven created to aid Vengeance in his work. They are essentially curses and spells sealed inside of specially crafted bullets. These bullets function in a similar manner to curses, but they differ in that they must first make contact with their desired target in order to take effect; otherwise they would act as just simple bullets. Once they enter the target's body, they will often break down and the curse sealed within them will take it's effect. Each Witch Bullet has a distinctive design to differentiate themselves from each other; some even have their own distinct trails. ::*'Weakness': The most common of the Witch Bullets. Weakness, as it's name implies, drastically weakens the target's ability to exert and harness their own Reiatsu, which can cause a variety of disadvantages. It can make them much easier to harm, generally crippling most of their physical and spiritual defenses, and can also cause their attacks to be much weaker. ::*'Abolishing Flame': Abolishing Flame is one of Vengeance's more heavy-hitting bullets. Upon making contact with his desired target, this Witch Bullet instantly combusts in a powerful burst of flames, similar to that of a Haien spell, that can almost immediately reduce a target to smoldering embers. It can be distinguished from other Witch Bullets by the streams of orange light that trail the bullet as it heads for it's mark. ::*'White Crawl': White Crawl functions more or less as a tranquilizer, allowing Vengeance to incapacitate victims and return them to the bounty giver of a vain sort. The bullet is interwoven with a powerful Hakufuku spell of Master-level proportions, causing the victim's senses to become muddled and non-functioning. This particular Witch Bullet is unique amongst the others in that it's effectiveness depends solely on the power level of the target. Some individuals, such as Captains, usually require more than one "White Crawl" bullet in order to be incapacitated. ::*'Severing': The most dangerous of all Witch Bullets in the case of Shinigami, Severing temporarily seals the user's Zanpakuto for a brief amount of time, but such a curse is more than enough to cripple an opponent and leave them open for a finishing blow. The bullet itself does no harm to the target, harmlessly phasing through their bodies, but upon doing so, the bullet implants the user with a high-level curse that immediately cuts them off from their primary weapon, the Zanpakuto. The Shinigami may still be able to feel the Zanpakuto's presence, but will be unable to communicate with them or harness their abilities for several minutes. If their Zanpakuto has already been Released into either of it's forms upon being struck by one of these bullets, then the weapon will forcibly re-seal. This bullet has the same effect on Arrancar as well. ::*'Piercing': Piercing Witch Bullets are extremely powerful bullets that carry highly compressed energy within them that is released in the form of a lance once it makes impact with it'd desired target. This energy lance is capable of penetrating nearly all forms of defense, physical and otherwise, and is used to decimate low and high level Kido Barriers, allowing Vengeance a clear shot at his desired target. ::*'Cleansing Storm': In the same manner as Abolishing Flame, Cleansing Storm is a high level Witch Bullet that carries a basic, but powerful spell within it pertaining to a certain element, in this case Ice. Upon hitting the desired target, Cleansing Storm bursts into an enormous, flower-shaped wall of ice that instantly freezes the opponent. When this ice flower is destroyed, the fragments burst outwards as shrapnel that can further damage the opponent. Vengeance often combos this bullet with Abolishing Flame to completely disintegrate a target. ::*'Carpet Bomb': One of Vengeance's more devastating Witch Bullets, Carpet Bomb bullets explode into dozens of shrapnel fragments only a few inches after leaving their respective gun barrel that then swarm the opponent in a hail of metal and energy. These fragments, if fired at a high enough velocity, can bring down entire buildings and overwhelm most defenses. They can also cover a wide area and destroy multiple enemies at once, especially if it is fired in succession. Vengeance states that three of these bullets can destroy a city as big as Tokyo. ::*'Quake': By firing this bullet into the surface, Vengeance can create a massive tremor that would force most opponents to go airborne due to it's sheer visible force. He can also fire this bullet into normal structures such as mountains or buildings and cause them to collapse. *'Hat': Although appearing as ordinary clothing items, Vengeance's attire pieces are actually all enchanted items that grant him additional capabilities in combat, letting him perform feats that are thought to be exclusive to powerful figures. His hat, in particular, grants him heightened Spiritual senses that allow him to feel the presences of Spiritual beings, weak or strong, from several miles away. More importantly, Vengeance's hat grant him the sense to discern and evade the effects of illusionary spells or techniques cast from his Shinigami opponents. Vengeance may initially be affected by the illusion that has been casted on him, potentially leaving him open for an attack, but extended exposure allows him to discern reality from spellcraft and fight the opponent as usual. Furthering this, the hat allows Vengeance to spot targets who may be using active camouflage to hide from him. *'Cloak': While Vengeance's hat allows him to discern and evade Illusions, his cloak grants him a consistent field of protective energy that serves to shield him from a number of attacks and harmful effects. By wearing this cloak, an intense field of Spiritual Energy is projected tightly around Vengeance's body at all times, similar in a way to an Arrancar's own Hierro, granting him incredibly high layers of defense. Should the need arise, Vengeance can feed his own Spiritual Pressure into the cloak's energy in order to bolster the energy field's strength. *'Boots': Vengeance's boots are enchanted so that he is able to move at the same speed of a Shinigami Captain, or greater. His boots project short bursts of Spiritual energy that launch Vengeance in which ever direction that he's facing and let him travel at speeds that are too fast for the eye to comprehend. He can also use these energy projections to enhance the power of his physical kicks, making it to where he can launch both himself and his opponent away from each other while also doing a decent amount of damage in the process. *'Cigars': While they may appear to be ordinary cigarettes used for Vengeance's own personal enjoyment, this is only partly true. The cigars that Vengeance almost always has in his mouth are actually explosive spells that are triggered by Vengeance willingly should he be defeated. In this case, Vengeance will unseal the cigar and it will begin to shine with a bright orange light, before detonating in a massive and violent explosion, easily capable of killing high-level opponents should they be caught in it's wake. Powers and Abilities Karma (カルマ, Karuma): A unique ability belonging to Vengeance, solidifying him as something far more than just a simple spirit. Vengeance's Spiritual Pressure carries the capability to imprint memories of himself into the psyche of people around him, making it to where they will be unable to naturally forget about his existence. Upon doing this, people who have had memories of Vengeance forced upon them will not be able to completely kill him, and he practically becomes immortal. His foe may cut his entire body up into pieces, burn him into ashes, or obliterate him into nothingness, none of it matters; Vengeance will always regain his form, be it in a matter of minutes or days, depending on the severity of his injuries or manner of death. His state of being relies almost entirely on the memories of those whom he has imprinted himself upon, and so long as people remember him, be it from his looks to his behavior, he will continue to live and hunt those who have committed sins in their lives. This makes him the perfect bounty hunter, as no matter how hard his opponents will try to destroy him, or even forget him, he will always return and resume his hunt for them once more. Karma is also capable of causing what Vengeance calls a "Permanent Imprint", which is almost certain doom for those unfortunate enough to receive it. A Permanent Imprint only occurs if one has been exposed to Vengeance's Spiritual Pressure for too long, or if they dwell on his existence for extended amounts of time, in which Vengeance will actually begin to physically manifest within that person's Inner World, regardless of whether or not he was "dead" or alive prior. While in this state, Vengeance almost completely dominates the user's Zanpakuto spirit and takes full control over the target's Inner World, and they are forced to fight him once again. Should they defeat him here, Vengeance will be purged from the user's Inner World, but he can enter it again if he manages to give them another Permanent Imprint. Permanent Imprints also carry an extended use of Karma that Vengeance uses to destroy targets that are more powerful than himself. While fighting the target in their own Inner World, Vengeance is capable of altering the look and feel of said target's Inner World through various stages that progress it towards a state of complete emptiness, which leaves the target's physical form completely vulnerable. These stages, according to Vengeance, reflect a person's thought process when desiring revenge. From losing a loved one to taking revenge on the one that killed them, Permanent Imprints serve to destroy the target from the inside. :*'Shock' (ショック, Shokku): Shock is the first stage of the Permanent Imprint, and begins only a few minutes after Vengeance has entered the target's Inner World. The landscape here changes from their typical Inner World into a purely black realm of oblivion, where only the user and Vengeance himself are visible. While most of this stage is generally unremarkable, the user can occasionally hear voices from their past or from individuals they know, though most of it consists of negative things that they have said. :*'Grief' (悲しみ, Kanashimi): Grief is the second stage and the one where Vengeance begins to acquire more power from the target's Inner World. Here, the Inner World of his opponent becomes a massive and endless lake of blue water, of which is only ankle deep, and it is raining constantly from a pitch black sky. It is here that the opponent's movements are slowed gradually, making it much easier for Vengeance to shoot them without worry of missing. The opponent can remedy this by going airborne, where mobility can be heightened for a few minutes. However, they will find that the rain weighs them down over time, and the lake beneath them will begin to rise, making escape impossible. Vengeance, on the other hand, is capable of moving freely as usual and uses the target's lessened mobility to quickly damage or kill them. The bounty hunter surmises that Grief reflects the user's sadness upon losing someone or thing close to them, and how this sadness can weigh them down like a great anchor. :*'Anger' (怒り, Ikari): When the water in the "Grief" stage completely engulfs the opponent, they are trapped underwater for a few seconds, before millions of bubbles begin to rise from the supposedly bottomless depths, and so does the temperature. After a couple of minutes, the water will completely evaporate into unbearably hot steam that burns the opponent's skin and possibly a majority of their clothing. This steam composes their Inner World for the next few minutes, and it remains impossibly hot for that duration. Here, the opponent's skin will burn constantly, and all forms of healing will be rendered useless, as the endless haze of steam will continue to burn away at the opponent. This serves as a means to fuel the opponent's anger, eventually causing them to start lashing out wildly as they try to strike the still fully mobile Vengeance, who uses the field of steam to hide himself and strike the opponent at every opportunity. This stage is meant to reflect one's blindness when enraged over their loss, and how the pain of losing them never goes away regardless of whatever methods they might use. :*'Violence' (暴力, Bōryoku): The steam that makes up all of "Anger" calmly begins to fade after a few minutes, and the sky becomes visible once more, though now it is both black and red. Blood rains from the sky and drenches the opponent, not only potentially cooling their heavily burned body, but completely numbing all of their senses, similar to "Shock". The ground beneath them is also composed entirely of blood and human remains, and Vengeance now remains seated upon a throne made up of bones and skulls. Here, Vengeance will goad the opponent into killing him, giving them one free shot to remove him from their Inner World and resume their battle in the Physical realm. Most targets gladly accept this challenge, and will fly straight towards Vengeance and use their most powerful or advanced technique to kill him. However, doing this ultimately seals the opponent's fate, as Vengeance will grin and say "Congratulations, you got what you wanted." before disappearing and triggering the final stage of his Permanent Imprint: Emptiness. However, Vengeance can be permanently removed from their Inner World of the target simply by dropping their weapon and replying with "No", releasing them from their desire to kill him for what he has done. This will force Vengeance out of their mind, and if his real body has not materialized fully after they have possibly slain him there, it will do so after being expunged from the opponent's Inner World, and he will be left vulnerable for killing once more. Of course, this will not permanently kill Vengeance, as he will always regain his form eventually. However, the opponent will be able to resist Vengeance's Permanent Imprint more effectively from then on. :*'Emptiness' (空虚, Kūkyo): The final stage of the Permanent Imprint, and the one that is impossible to escape from. If the target succumbs to their desire to kill Vengeance and he leaves his parting words with them, his body, along with the rest of the make up of the Inner World will cease to exist, and will be left instead with nothing but blackness, like "Shock". If they have killed Vengeance physically, then they will remain in this pitch black void until he regains his form in the Physical realm. Regardless, in the real world, the opponent's body will be lifeless and incapable of defending itself, in which Vengeance will proceed to execute them with a single bullet, ending their lives once and for all. *'Memory Replication': By going through his opponent's memories, Vengeance is able to replicate a person relating to his target's past and manifest them into physical form. With this, Vengeance can essentially have his target's best friend or worst enemy fight alongside him in battle. How powerful the recreated "memory clone" depends entirely on how long Vengeance spends extracting his opponent's memories. He can only use this ability when he has entered his opponent's Inner World through a Permanent Imprint. Master Gunslinger: In a world dominated by the sword, Vengeance rejects the notion of fighting with a blade and relies almost entirely on using his two personal handguns. In the hands of a master, these weapons are capable of outclassing even the greatest of swordsmen, for with them, Vengeance can fight at both close range and long range. Unlike most gunmen, Vengeance uses a special form of combat he refers to as "Gun Fu", a fighting style which relies on close range gun fighting. The primary means of executing this fighting style is waiting for the opponent to get within melee range, before proceeding to use a very elusive and mobile martial arts style in harmony with one's own gunshots. Gun Fu places emphasis on two factors: shooting the enemy as efficiently as possible, and avoiding retaliating strikes. Successfully shooting the opponent depends on knowing where exactly enemy positions are whilst retaliating to the user, which makes aiming less of a priority (especially when the two combatants are at close range) and allows the user to kill his opponent with pre-emptive fire before they can present a true threat. Avoiding oncoming strikes is also more statistical in nature, as Vengeance does not rely on simple evasions through observations of what the opponent's move is so much as he relies on knowing what the opponent's move will be. To put it simply, Gun Fu relies on Vengeance shooting where the enemy is most likely to be, while not being where the enemy is most likely to strike at him. Using this style, Vengeance was noted to have killed over 60 combatants in just under 30 seconds, being too fast and too accurate for any of them to follow or counter. His own reflexes allow him to bend and twist around the strikes and blows of his enemies whilst also exposing their future movements, of which he can easily exploit and then proceed to viciously execute them with a single bullet. The length of his gun barrels allows him to block oncoming sword strikes with relative ease, which makes it to where he can also counter them with more gunshots. This also allows him to use his pistols as makeshift clubs by using their barrels as handles and using their butts to violently strike down the opponent, or even disarm them of their own weapon by using hook-like maneuvers. Masterful Agility: Vengeance's experience and previous experience with The Coven has granted him inhuman mobility, and it is his primary means of defense. While he possesses a durable frame generated from his cloak's field of energy, such a layer of defense can only last for so long under fire, so Vengeance chooses to avoid using it if at all possible so as to prolong it's usage. As one might guess from his frame, Vengeance is a highly agile opponent and can be very difficult to hit, especially at longer ranges. His speed is granted to him by the experiments performed on him by The Coven, granting his previously brittle bones enough strength to endure hours of rigorous battle and enough stamina to consistently move at high speeds regardless of how far the opponent might push him. Dodging sword and projectile strikes are as easy as baby steps for Vengeance; he is able to sidestep and backpedal almost constantly, always trying to keep his form moving so that the opponent might can either lose him or tire out from trying to keep up with him. He uses his agility to enhance his own offensive capabilities as well, often combining a side step or a dodge with a gunshot to hit the opponent whilst vulnerable in the wake of their own attack. Great Intellect: Philosophy aside, Vengeance is a highly thoughtful and intellectual person, acquired through his many years of bounty hunting. He lives by a "trial and error" system, which states that if Vengeance were to die in a battle with a strong foe, he will just simply return to life later and learn from his errors. Vengeance does not fear death in any fashion, and so being killed by an opponent does nothing but delay him from his duty, and he uses his deaths and previous fights to learn where to improve upon when dealing with that individual again. Because of this, Vengeance carries a wealth of tactics and knowledge on many different forms of fighters and is able to generate a basic idea of how each of them may function. Do they succumb to illusion easily? Are they so lumbering and slow that he might can finish them off by simply using speed? Or are they so fast that he should crush the earth itself to offset their movements? All of these are factors that Vengeance has taken into consideration before each and every battle, and should his opponent find a way to defeat him that he had previously not expected, then he simply reforms himself later with this new information in mind, as he has done all the others. High-Speed Regeneration: In line with his Karma ability, Vengeance is able to reform parts of his body that have been damaged beyond normal repair during battle. Vengeance's bones are not actual "bones" as one would think they were in the normal sense; rather they appear to be tree roots of a similar coloration. These roots sprawl and flail about wildly when exposed, before gradually reforming back into whatever limb was severed before. He can use these "roots" as makeshift whips or blades in the meantime while they regain form. Trivia